Open Houses, Exhibits during Festival

  • Fairfax Museum and Visitor Center, 10209 Main St., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

This building was constructed in 1873 with bricks made at the Farr property across Main Street. The oldest brick, two-story, school building remaining in Fairfax cost just $2,750 to build. Stop in for chocolate treats while learning about the City’s colorful history; free admission.

  • Historic Records and Archives, Historic Fairfax Court House, 4000 Chain Bridge Road , 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Visit a historic display of legal documents, including: A page from the polling done around the country as citizens voted to secede from the Union; the “Civil War Rulebook” filled with graffiti from the soldiers stationed there; George Washington’s will; a church pew deed; and a court order written by George Mason in 1767 to settle a boundary dispute between Peter Smith and James Jennings.

  • Ford House, 3977 Chain Bridge Road, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Visit the childhood home of Antonia Ford, a Confederate spy during the American Civil War. She was imprisoned and fell in love with her Union jailer, whom she later married; their son built the Old Town Hall. Free admission.

  • Legato School, Route 123/Chain Bridge Road, between Judicial Drive and Sager Avenue, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Learn about the noble heritage of America's favorite flavor and play some games at the one-room Legato School, the last of its kind in Fairfax County. It’s been restored and is furnished as it was in the 1870s. Now operated as a museum, Legato School is on the grounds of the historic Fairfax County Courthouse; free admission.

  • Ratcliffe-Allison House, 10386 Main St., noon-4 p.m.

The oldest standing house in the City of Fairfax depicts the lives of everyday people in 19th-century Fairfax and will offer visitors chocolate treats. Built in 1812, it was once a cobbler shop. Kitty Pozer, a famed Fairfax gardener and writer, lived here until 1981; free admission.